


begin again

by ndnickerson



Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Estrangement, F/M, Ficlet, Getting Back Together, Past Relationship(s), Reunion Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-10-18 20:19:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10624416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: Nancy doesn't know if she'll ever be over her ex.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published at my Nancy Drew fanfic tumblr, nancydrewdiary.
> 
> Prompt from putthepromptsonpaper on tumblr: “Can we just pretend that I’m over you?”

Ned said it quietly from the passenger seat, his elbow propped up on the window ledge, looking away from her.

They had both been so good. Neither one of them had said anything until that moment. No one had known how Nancy’s heart stopped when she saw him again; she had somehow managed to form coherent words after that, and she still felt like some part of her had been on autopilot, and still was. He was just a man, a federal agent, and she was cooperating with his investigation. That was all.

“I thought we had been.”

He snorted. She felt a fine trembling in her fingers, and she looked down at the bare base of her left ring finger.

She had been doing him a favor. She still thought that. She wasn’t meant for anything permanent and he needed to find someone who was. But she had never wanted to hurt him, not even when things had been at their worst.

She had been avoiding meeting his gaze all day; the next day, when he returned to her office, a long gray wool topcoat buttoned around him and emphasizing his broad shoulders and well-built chest, she found herself studying his face. It had been a year and a half since she had moved everything out of their shared apartment, and in that time he had grown a little older, just as she had.

She had thought they would last forever. She really had.

Then he looked up at her and their gazes met and she felt like someone had punched her in the chest.

He had said they should act like he was over her. She was starting to wonder if she was over him. Reason had told her they were better off apart, but especially lately, her heart had begun to question it.

_You just want him because he isn’t yours. If you try again it will just happen again. Your gaze will wander and he’ll be hurt and it’ll be worse this time. It will._

It would be. She had no doubt about it.

But, despite everything, she had never met anyone who made her feel the way he did.

–

Bess predicted it, giddily, when Nancy mentioned that Ned was working with her on a case. George just rolled her eyes. Nancy immediately denied it.

It was just easier to invite him back to her apartment to discuss the case, when they were so close and they had all the clues she thought they needed to resolve it. He accepted her invitation, even though she saw the way his adam’s apple bobbed and thought of the hurt look in his eyes the night they had begun working together.

Her heart was hurting, too. But they were adults and professionals, and they were pretending.

Then she handed him his coffee and their fingers brushed and their eyes met.

When he reached for her, she didn’t back away, didn’t protest, didn’t bring up the past, because all that mattered was the way her heart sped when their gazes met and how hard it had been for her to focus on anything else when he had been nearby.

They ended up on the couch together, her legs wrapped around him, his lips fused to hers. The second time was in her bed, and they took their time, his large warm hands reclaiming her with every caress, every brush of his lips against her skin. Afterward they wrapped around each other, hearts slowing, her palm stroking his chest.

“I’m not over you,” she whispered, her eyes closed.

“Good,” he murmured, with a quiet chuckle. “Because I’m not over you either.”


End file.
